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jennundersea's review
4.0
Primer on poverty in America. Omits some huge issues, like the effects of racism and capitalism on poverty in America, but gives a good overview of how systemic poverty is. Good for high school or early college reading.
mikaellen's review
5.0
A comprehensive and very personal look into the crisis of working class, rural America. The authors did their duty in their research, delicately balancing the blame with understanding.
While this book isn’t about to solve all crises in America, it is a good starting point. Everyone should read this book, if only to gain some empathy.
While this book isn’t about to solve all crises in America, it is a good starting point. Everyone should read this book, if only to gain some empathy.
ejoyws's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
bearprof's review
5.0
Thoughtful and well-researched, humane and realistic. A little repetitive, but forgivable given the importance of the topic. Well worth the read.
lidziak's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.0
lindseyfranson's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.0
srjennings's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
A good book with personal stories that give dimension to the issues in addition to important statistics and data. The authors make a clear effort to be honest about what are the poor choices of individuals and yet point out the social institutions and policies that have created such a crisis of poverty, addiction, etc. This is a book I'd recommend for someone who is new to learning about these issues and/or who leans toward blaming the individual without understanding the social context. I also appreciate that at the end of the book the authors give clear suggestions about what the reader can do to help create change.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Violence, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse
shirleytupperfreeman's review
Nicholas Kristof grew up riding the #6 school bus in the farm community of Yamhill, OR. He went to Harvard and became a NYT journalist but many of the kids on his bus have already died from alcohol, drugs, diabetes, obesity and reckless living. Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, posit that many government and corporate policies over the past few decades have created an untenable situation for millions of working class families. They are careful to acknowledge that some folks have made poor choices but they also write about the various 'escalators' that we as a country used to provide, and some countries still do provide, for folks trying to move up the success ladder. For instance, the GI bill which helped veterans (only white, tragically) get an education and housing after WWII. Using specific people's stories as a launching pad, they write about health care, incarceration, education, housing, jobs, etc. Kristof and WuDunn offer examples of people and programs that are trying to help and they call for many changes in our government and corporate policies. At the end, they suggest 10 things the reader/listener can do to learn more. I will confess that at first, as I was listening to the book while driving around town, I kept turning it off because it felt too depressing and because I didn't find the reader's voice helpful. But I'm glad I kept going - there is a lot of food for thought. Now I've started Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas to do some comparing and contrasting.
alexisrt's review
4.0
This is a whistle stop tour of what's ailing america, especially the working class. A lot of it is familiar if you read Kristof's columns in the NYT (I picked up the book from the library after reading an excerpt in the Times). Kristof looks in particular at the Oregon town of his childhood, but highlights examples from throughout the country. It's not spectacularly deep--and can't be, with covering so many things in 300 pages--but it hits a lot of points: healthcare, education, jobs, incarceration--and successfully makes the point that we have built this with failed policy and incentives. Voters overrate moral hazard when it comes to the poor, but underrate it for the rich. They are willing to help individuals, but see the poor en masse as willing to cheat (sometimes based on experiences with family). "Personal responsibility" is presented as overriding, and liberals occasionally fall into the trap by de-emphasizing people's decisions to the point where it seems like they're characterizing the poor as solely hapless victims of fate--a characterization that the poor themselves reject. Kristof and WuDunn are careful to show that choices matter, but that luck and birth are major factors in outcomes. As they say, when there's a 20 year difference in life expectancy based solely on place of birth, we can't pin that on choices.